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'No Good Deed' dominates the box office over 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

The thriller 'No Good Deed' and the family-friendly movie 'Dolphin Tale 2' took first and second place, respectively, putting summer box office champion 'Guardians' at third place. However, 'Deed' received mainly negative reviews.

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Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
'No Good Deed' stars Idris Elba.

A thriller and a family-friendly story about a dolphin both grossed more than summer box office champion “Guardians of the Galaxy” this weekend, with the film “No Good Deed” coming in at first place and the movie “Dolphin Tale 2” placing second.

According to the Associated Press, “Deed,” which stars Taraji P. Henson of “Person of Interest” as a woman who shelters a convict on the run (Idris Elba of “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”), grossed $24.5 million over this past weekend, the first weekend it was in theaters. Sony distribution chief Rory Bruer credited Henson and Elba with its success. 

“It's a movie that we really loved and felt that it was going to win," Bruer told the AP. "You have to give it to the cast in Idris and Taraji. Their chemistry together is fantastic.”

Meanwhile, “Dolphin,” which starred actor and singer Harry Connick Jr., Morgan Freeman, and Ashley Judd, grossed $16.5 million in what was also its first weekend in theaters. The film is a sequel to the 2011 movie "Dolphin Tale" and Deadline writer Anita Busch noted the movie could continue to do well at the box office because “there hasn’t been a new family offering for a long time and won’t be until 'The Boxtrolls' hits on Sept. 26,” she wrote. 

As for previous releases, “Guardians” took in an additional $8 million and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” grossed $4.8 million, while the movie “Let’s Be Cops” took in $4.3 million.

Of the new releases, both “Deed” and “Dolphin” received middling to poor receptions from critics, with “Deed” currently holding a 24/100 score on the review aggregator website Metacritic. New York Times critic Ben Kenigsberg called “Deed” “an inert 'Cape Fear' rehash that can’t seem to choose its favorite contrivance.”

“Dolphin” holds a more positive Metacritic score of 59/100, which is still a mixed bag of reviews. Washington Post critic Sandie Angulo Chen wrote that it’s “family-friendly animal fare… The answers [to plot lines] might seem predictable, but surprisingly, the dilemmas provide real – if sentimental – moments of tension and drama leading up to the movie’s satisfying conclusion… sweet and cheesy.”

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